But how do you tell people who to send the money to without telling someone the connection between your identity and your public key (from which they can trace all further targets of the money from that key)?
I’m pretty sure Bitcoin at least provides the ability to run as many keys as you choose; if you’re really concerned about that kind of tracking, it’s quite simple to make a new key for each transaction.
Yes, but my point is, that still requires you to trust the counterparty not to tell others that you’re connected to that key, which would allow them to follow its transactions. You can make it a little harder by having that account spend the money around to other accounts you’re connected to, but it’s still traceable.
It gets worse: Suppose a fraudster swindles someone else out of their money. The victim can go to the authorities with the fraudster’s Bitcoin address. The authorities can force Mt. Gox to halt and flag any attempt to trade Bitcoins that, according to the transaction history, were once at the Bitcoin address that was used by the fraudster.
If the fraudster then spends his Bitcoins, and they eventually end up in your hands, and then you take the funds to Mt. Gox, you can end up getting charged with “receiving stolen property”, even if the fraudster is never found.
The more likely scenario, however, is that the state attacks Bitcoin by shutting down Mt. Gox and similar services, making it next to impossible to convert Bitcoin into other currencies.
I’m pretty sure Bitcoin at least provides the ability to run as many keys as you choose; if you’re really concerned about that kind of tracking, it’s quite simple to make a new key for each transaction.
Yes, but my point is, that still requires you to trust the counterparty not to tell others that you’re connected to that key, which would allow them to follow its transactions. You can make it a little harder by having that account spend the money around to other accounts you’re connected to, but it’s still traceable.
It gets worse: Suppose a fraudster swindles someone else out of their money. The victim can go to the authorities with the fraudster’s Bitcoin address. The authorities can force Mt. Gox to halt and flag any attempt to trade Bitcoins that, according to the transaction history, were once at the Bitcoin address that was used by the fraudster.
If the fraudster then spends his Bitcoins, and they eventually end up in your hands, and then you take the funds to Mt. Gox, you can end up getting charged with “receiving stolen property”, even if the fraudster is never found.
The more likely scenario, however, is that the state attacks Bitcoin by shutting down Mt. Gox and similar services, making it next to impossible to convert Bitcoin into other currencies.